I chose Koenig Solutions for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wanted value for money and I could not believe their prices were so good for 1 on 1 training. Secondly, I wanted to do my training somewhere I would not be easily distracted so I could study in peace - the quiet Shimla location sounded ideal.

I decided to do the MCPD: ASP.Net 3.5 course along with three MCTS 3.5 courses (WCF, WPF and WWF). I was due to be studying for 3 weeks.

I was initially a little concerned about the spoken English of the trainers, but this fear evaporated after being at the training centre for 5 minutes. The trainers were professional and knew the material very well (not just the course material but the whole subject) as I had hoped they would. There's nothing worse than going on a training course as I have in the past and knowing more than the trainer as they just "teach" from PowerPoint slides. The trainers are also patient and are more than willing to speed up the course on bits that you know and slow down a little on bits that you don't - time permitting.

Don't expect to have a lot of free time if you're doing the super fast track as I went over course materials and lab work early in the morning and late into the night most nights. On the super fast track there is no time to do the labs in the course books during the day.

My first trainer, for the ASP.Net course had actually traveled up from Delhi to teach this course. I was not asked to stay in Delhi so he wouldn't have to travel - he came to me, which was nice. I had been doing .Net for 3+ years, but it's amazing - how little of the whole framework I had covered. Kapil tailored my training speed so we quickly went over the things I had done and knew and slowed down on the bits that I didn't know and tripped me up. I was overjoyed when I passed my courses with high marks.

My second trainer was a Shimla local. Together we went through the 3 MCTS courses. All of this was completely new to me and it was a relief that he was patient and not offended by me asking "stupid" questions...

The accommodation was one area that let the whole package down a little. I decided to stay in the managed accommodation as I though it may feel a little isolated in a hotel for 3 weeks. Additionally they had Wi-Fi in their accommodation :).

They had just changed their accommodation for the students and there were 2 "houses" available. The first house was a little damp and basic so I requested to be moved to the second after a couple of days. The second house was great - although we ate our meals at the first house so had to walk (all of 3 minutes!) to get our dinner. One great thing about the accommodation was the "caretaker" - Raju. He cooked the dinner each evening and I was very impressed. He also kept the second house well stocked with bottled water and other necessities.

Basically, if I ever need to put myself on a training course again, I would go back - without a doubt.